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While the other three major North American team sports' All-Star Games have become farces, baseball's mid-summer classic still retains its luster for being competitive and hard-fought, and unchanged in its format since it was first played in 1933. Since day one it's always been the American League versus the National League. At the 2002 ASG in Milwaukee, however, the game suffered a huge public-relations blow because it was stopped after 11 innings deadlocked at 7-7, when both teams ran out of pitchers. This development was the result of a change in ASG philosophy that strongly encouraged managers to use everyone on the bench. The days of Willie Mays playing in the ASG from start to finish (which he did 11 times) were gone. Instead, managers liberally moved players in and out of the lineup so that it resembled something akin to a softball game at a church picnic where, to avoid hurt feelings, everyone participates. Commissioner Bud Selig made the decision to halt the game in consultation with the umpiring crew and both managers. The crowd of more than 41,000 spectators was outraged that the game ended without a winner. Furthermore, no MVP was selected because of the inconclusive outcome--a strange decision did not make a lot of sense. The following year, as a way to make the contest more meaningful, it was decided that whichever league won the ASG would get home field advantage for the World Series that autumn. That policy, which had its supporters and detractors, was kept until 2016. Tags:MLBbaseball2002All-StarGametieAdded: 12th July 2017Views: 86Rating:Posted By:Lava1964

In 2003, because the ASG would decide which league got home field advantage in the World Series, the game was marketed with the phrase 'This time it counts!' At the 2017 game I was expecting the catch phrase to be 'This time it DOESN'T count.'

If you want to read an excellent account of the circumstances leading up to the 7-7 tie at the 2002 ASG, I can suggest a really good baseball history book that has an entire chapter dedicated to it: The Games that Changed Baseball. It was on one blogger's list of the best 25 baseball books of 2016. I am one of the co-authors of that book.